Atheists in Office

Recently, in Asheville North Carolina, Cecil Bothwell was elected to the City Council. There was no dispute about how many votes he received, no absentee ballots stuck in the snow on a broken down truck, no 'hanging chads', no irregularities of any kind. Nontheless there was a movement to deny him his Council seat. What deep dark secret did Bothwell harbor? He was an atheist.

The North Carolina constitution states that any officeholder in the state must believe in God. Of course this goes against the United States constitution, which states that there shall be no religious test for any office of public trust. The City Council of Asheville did not bow to the pressure and had Bothwell sworn in. A local opponent of Bothwell was quoted as saying that he was a Christian, and as a Christian he opposed having someone in office who did not believe in God.

I guess people, in their personal lives, can choose to associate with whom they wish to associate. But what specifically about atheism makes an atheist unfit to serve as an elected official? They are as likely to be conservative as liberal, hawk as dove, free-market as protectionist, as any religious person. In a poll during the last presidential campaign, the group of people judged as a group to be least fit to serve as president was atheists.

Now if you are a Christian you have a right and privelege to have the opinion that atheists are wrong, but they have the same rights and priveleges as everybody else.

It's amazing, and truthfully, a little bit sad, that in this day and time people are still judged by their religion.